A Big Fish in a Small Pond
by Sasaria
Summary: "Yuki, does a sand-wich have sand in it?" Haru sounded out the word slowly, rounding and flexing his lips into each letter. "No, Haru. Just watch." A collection of Tsuritama drabbles ranging from gloomy to cheery that go down as easily as a chocolate milkshake!
1. Sandwich

**A/N:** A change in pace! This is my first time writing a Tsuritama fanfic, so that's pretty exciting. Just a note, though, if you have any ideas for prompts you want me to include, list them in your reviews! Just include the prompt and what characters you want, or just a prompt. I'll consider them and try my best to write them. (If school doesn't eat up all my time!) Anyway, enjoy!

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o1 - Sandwich

Yuki heard his stomach growl as he laid against the soft cushions of the living room couch. Fortunately, there was no one around to hear it. His grandmother had gone out hours before for work. And Haru had left for outside only a few moments before. Yuki thought of him absently while he stood up then dawdled to the kitchen, opening up the fridge.

The alien boy was always causing trouble, saying things he shouldn't, and doing things that might have been minimally offensive. Yuki might go out and check on him in a moment– after he made something to eat. In fact, he decided it might be better to make two sandwiches, one for Haru, too. That might make him happy.

The orange-haired boy searched through the fridge, gathering up a bag of bread, lettuce, ham, and cheese into his arms, then set them out on the kitchen counter. He turned to the sink and allowed his hands to pass underneath a lukewarm surge before shaking them dry.

Just as he turned around to the kitchen counter, he leapt back in surprised to see Haru, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, staring at the colorful display of foodstuffs laying on the counter.

"Yuki, what are you doing?" he called out, his voice as high and swelling with ecstasy as it usually did.

"I'm making lunch."

"What lunch?"

"Sandwiches."

The alien boy recoiled slightly, his face transforming into a look of thought. His tongue escaped his mouth as his eyes searched around into the abyss of air, thinking.

"What?" Yuki questioned.

"Yuki does a sand-wich have sand in it?" The alien sounded out the word slowly, rounding and flexing his lips into each letter.

"No, Haru. Just watch."

Yuki proceeded to roll up his sleeves, open up the bag, and fish through it to remove two slices of bread. "Haru, can you get a plate?"

"O-kay!"

Yuki placed the two slices on the plate, then ripped open the packaging of the ham. He dressed up the bread nicely with two slices of ham per bread slice, making sure they were even and laying perfectly atop one another. Then, he reached over and collected the cheese. It was a nice brand too– creamy and fresh-smelling. He placed two slices of cheese on one side of the bread. And at last, he picked up the lettuce and dropped two large, lime-green heads onto the sandwich.

Haru watched the whole thing with extreme fascination, never taking his eyes off of the bread, Yuki's hands, and the lettuce, cheese, and ham. He wouldn't take his off eyes of it, because Yuki was creating something. Something amazing and colorful.

Finally Yuki folded the two slices of bread on top of each other, then offered it over to Haru. "Here," he remarked gently with a soft smile. Haru eagerly took the sandwich, looked it over, and bit into it. Just as the rainbow of tastes hit his tongue, he made a delighted, close-mouthed sigh and leapt into the air.

"Yuki, it's good!"

The orange-haired boy nodded and stepped aside.

"Would you like to try?"

"Mh-hmm!"

The blonde alien stepped forward. He mentally backtracked to the process that Yuki had just gone through. First was the bread, then the pink stuff, then the yellow stuff, and at last the green stuff.

He gathered each ingredient and began decorating each slice of bread. He made sure he did his absolute best because Yuki was watching, and if Yuki could do it, he wanted to do it, too. Once the ham and cheese were on the bread, he reached over for the lettuce. It was coiled, almost to look like a small telescope. Haru noticed this with a blooming smile as he picked it up, messed around with the shape of it for a few moments, then showed it to Yuki.

"Yuki, look!"

"What?"

"It's the same."

"The same as what?"

Haru reached into his pocket and produced his lime-green squirt-gun. Indeed, the two almost looked alike. They were both the same color, and had a circular opening, and with Haru's earlier fiddling with it, the shape was almost spot-on.

"I guess it does kind of look like that water pistol," Yuki responded, blinking in understanding.

"It does," Haru agreed, giggling as his eyes darted from the pistol to the piece of lettuce. He held his squirt-gun and head of lettuce in mid-air, admiring it with a smile. "But they don't do the same thing. This one shoots; this one's for eating."

Haru twirled around on his heels holding up the lettuce like a gun towards Yuki. Or, at least, he thought it was the lettuce. Instead, however, he held the squirt gun towards Yuki, and from the hole, out came its mystifying liquid.

And before anyone could stop it, Yuki was doused with the liquid, letting out a holler in protest.

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The moment Yuki came to, he found himself bending on his knees in the sand in front of the ocean. "Ehhhh?"

Glancing around, he spotted Haru holding two pieces of bread loaded down with sand. The boy was pouting, the twinkle in his eyes not as bright.

"I think these sand-wiches work better, Yuki."

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**A/N: **Reviews and critique are appreciated! And remember, if you have a request, leave a prompt or a prompt and the characters you want in the reviews!

_Blessings, Sasaria_


	2. Horror Flick

_Thanks so much RaegyStorm for the review and for adding to your follow list. I'm very appreciative! ~Blessings, Sasaria_

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o2 – Horror Flick

It happened innocently enough. Natsuki had suggested that they'd all rent a movie after school. Nothing big– just something to blow off some of the stress that school undoubtedly causes. Besides, it was a three-day-weekend, why not celebrate?

When the final bell rang and the three had congregated outside of the high school's walls, Haru (as always) was the first to speak up. "Natsukiii, what about Akira? Isn't Akira going to watch a movie with us?"

"We'd have to get in contact with him," Natsuki responded, glancing absently at a passing car. "I'm sure he'd say yes–"

"Yuki, Yuki, call Akira!" the blond-haired boy bounded, balling both hands into fists like an excited child. Yuki responded with a rather depressed-kind of look before uttering back with a tinge of exasperation, "I know, I know, I'll call."

He produced the white rectangular tool from his school uniform's pocket, flipped it on, and began typing on the keypad, both thumbs.

It was no surprise that they were all talking and deciding things like this. After all, they had been "friends" (if you wanted to call it that) for the past few months. It made enough sense that they'd be close enough to each other to at least call themselves 'that'. Yet and still, Yuki always seemed to grow exasperated by Haru's insistent whining.

Eventually, Yuki dialed in the right number and held the phone up to his ear. He was bristling slightly, his mouth puckered and at the same time almost in a slack, frowning. He was visibly tense, beads of sweat forming along his cheeks.

"H-H-H-H-H-Hello? A-Akira? W-Would you like to... get a... film– I mean, movie! I mean, Natsuki, and Haru, and I were going to rent a film –movie! We were going to rent a movie. Would you like to come over and watch it?"

There was a pause on the line, and soon Yuki's nervous trembling melted away into being less rigid and erect. His face rounded into a smile and he nodded and straightened. "Alright! We'll be meeting at Natsuki's house."

| † |

Eventually, Natsuki's house was filled with three other males– all of which (with the exception of Haru) hoped to not deal with a snafu.

"It was Haru's turn to choose. Alright, Haru, what did you pick?" Natsuki asked, plopping down on his dad's armchair. It smelled like vanilla ale, a nice musky, mystical scent and not like those other cheap beers.

Yuki had made himself comfortable on the couch, placing both his hands into his lap, polite and proper as always, while Akira chose to sit on the other side of the couch with Tapioca quaking in his arms.

Haru sat cross-legged on the floor, but immediately leapt up at the sound of his name.

"I chose this one!" the boy flashed a white cover with the title– "_The Grudge_" on it.

Yuki was the first to voice everyone's thoughts. "Uhh... Haru, doesn't that look a bit scary?"

"No! I read the back cover."

"And it didn't sound scary?"

"Nope!"

Natsuki slowly walked over towards the television, pressing the button on the DVD player before placing the cold disk inside it. The DVD player closed and the film almost immediately started up.

"Maybe we should keep on the light?" Yuki requested, already looking quite nervous. But Haru shook his head. "Yuki, when you watch movies it's more exciting with the lights off! That's what Keito says~"

And thus the movie started. At first, it rolled a few trailers, but Haru grasped the remote and flipped through those.

"Wh-Why don't we watch the trailers?!"

"Nope! The trailers are just extra. That's what Keito says~"

The movie proceeded, and by the near end of it, Yuki, Akira, Haru, and Tapioca were all traumatized and frozen in place. Only Natsuki stared straight ahead without moving his eyes from the screen at all.

"N-Natsuki... w-weren't you scared?"

"N-...No" the boy quickly took to his feet to shake his head. "No. It's just a movie; it's all fake."

That night, they all returned home, and Natsuki couldn't help but notice Akira holding Tapioca a bit tighter than usual while Yuki and Haru scampered home as quickly as they could, each yelling at the other, "Wait up!"

Natsuki slowly closed the door to his house, and took the short, dark walk up to his bedroom.

Brushing his teeth and changing into his pajamas, he opened the curtains, allowing a glimmer of the full moon's light to bathe his room in intangible purity. He fell onto his bed, placing his glasses on the side table.

And he stared at the ceiling. Just stared for a second, two seconds, three seconds.

Natsuki stared so long his eyes began to feel dry from lack of blinking. One minute went by, then two, then three, then fourteen. And eventually, thirty whole minutes went by before Natsuki realized–

He was too scared to sleep.


	3. Procrastination

_Thanks RaegyStorm, ConnectingVeins, and all other anonymous-readers~! :) I do hope you continue to read!_

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o3 - Procrastination

DUCK had always fascinated Akira. At least, that was story he liked to tell people. It was an honorable organization that swore its duty to protect all Earth from the wrath of aliens. What wasn't honorable about that? What wasn't fascinating about that? Akira had always saw loyalty (to certain individuals, anyway) and fighting aliens as the two most important parts of his job.

Whenever an assignment came around, he was the first to get started on it. Whenever there was a mystery that needed to be solved, he was the one to stay at it the longest. Whenever there was a battle to be fought, he was the one that fought the hardest. Being an operative for DUCK was the most important part of his life.

So why was he lounging across the couch and eating curry instead of working?

Tapioca lifted up his beak and sent an insistent _quack_ Akira's way, but the Indian only placed a finger over his lips, hissing out a "Shh!" He turned his eyes back to the television screen, just in time to see the chef add the last shake of turmeric to a bubbling bowl of _dhansak_. Just looking at the dish made his mouth water.

"I should try that this upcoming Sunday," the stoic male mused, placing his curry bowl down on the table to scribble some notes in a notepad with a duck on the front cover. "I'll add more cloves but will probably have to do without the meat–"

_Quack_.

Akira glanced back down towards the duck that was waddling around his feet. There was a certain look in his eye that made Akira shiver.

"I know I'm supposed to be working, but this is my favorite cooking show–"

_Quack_.

"I still have all day to investigate the alien."

_Quack_.

"I understand that it will only take a minute, but–"

_Quack_.

"Yes, I'm aware the Bermuda Syndrome is a crippling fate that I must prevent at all costs, but... it can wait for one more hour." He reached for the remote, but the duck fluttered onto his lap and began waving its wings in front of the male's face. There's was a long string of quacks and a few feathers that escaped from the duck's wings in its haste. This lasted for only a second before Akira let out a long sigh and put down the remote.

"You're right, Tapioca. I should use my time wisely instead of procrastinating." He pressed the 'Power' button on the remote before scooching off the couch and heading towards the door. It only took him a moment to put on his shoes and place a hand to the doorknob.

"Wait... what was the third spice used in that recipe?"

_Quack_?

"You're not sure, either, Tapioca?" The Indian placed a hand under his chin in thought. "That leaves me only one option... searching for it online."

_Quack, quack!_

"Don't worry, I'll only take a minute. Two minutes... okay, five minute's my limit."

Four hours later, Akira had gone from searching up the missing spice, to looking up other Indian dishes, to researching where to find top-quality lamb in Enoshima, to hunting for a type of rare ocean blossom that grew only in the spring, to investigating what to feed fish in the summer months.

By six o'clock that afternoon, Akira glanced up at the clock and frowned. "Six already; I should start making dinn–"

It dawned on him; there hadn't been a single hour set aside for work that day.

Tapioca waddled onto the table and sat near his computer, shaking his white head.

_Quack, quack_.

"Yes, Tapioca, procrastination is a terrible thing."


	4. Bonding

_Thanks so much for the faves and alerts!_

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o4 - Bonding

It had become a ritual of sorts. When Natsuki came home, after he made dinner and a few donuts for dessert, he'd automatically get himself ready. He'd clean the cups, break out on the tea (for himself, Sakura liked hot chocolate), and put on one of his cozy fleece sweaters.

With the cups billowing with wisps of white smoke, he'd make his way upstairs. By that time, his dad and Mariko had already gone to sleep but Sakura was waiting for him. When he pushed open the door to his room (trying to keep the sound as low as possible) she would be sitting on his bed, dressed in her long sleeve pajama shirt and bottoms with a pleasant smile on her face.

Carefully, _carefully_ Natsuki climbs onto her bed, making sure he doesn't spill the cocoa. As he climbs on, Sakura jumps off, hurries to the window and pushes it open. The stars are out, they usually are, glistening in a royal blue sky. She lets out a long sigh, "Aahh, Nii-chan, look at the stars! Their beautiful."

"Yeah, they are," he says, smoothing a smile onto his face. Sakura stares with wide eyes at the sky just a little bit longer before cutting the lights, letting the full moon be the only light. She crawls onto the bed, snuggling under the blanket up to her brother. He offers her the cup of cocoa, which she takes and sends him a soft smile, "thank you."

It had become a ritual of sorts. To snuggle up like this against Natsuki, sipping hot cocoa and staring up at the moon and stars. Even from their home, she could hear the gentle surge of the ocean; it was close enough to lull her heart.

Moments like these, nights like these, made everything feel all right. There was nothing to worry about. The world was in slow motion and any stress or anxiety was all gone.

She blows on her hot cocoa, sending the wisps away until they disappear into thin air. She takes a sip and the drink warms her.

Yes, the warmth of a cup of hot cocoa never failed to ease her.


End file.
